Czech Republic

Most of the Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion staff to strike Monday

7.5.2015 19:28 Most of the staffers of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion will strike on Monday. Of the Agency's 70 employees and sub-contractors, 59 will begin the strike.  full story

Czech Republic: Ghettofest 2015 will have less loud music, more reverence

7.5.2015 18:33 The fourth annual Ghettofest will take place on 5 and 6 June in the "Bronx" neighborhood of Brno. In addition to a full program of music and theater, the festival will focus on the tragic past of the locality and the fates of its local inhabitants.  full story

Roma demand apology from Czech Education Minister on Facebook for his insulting remarks on television

7.5.2015 15:42 Romani activist Miroslav Klempár is using his Facebook profile to call on Romani people to sign an open letter to Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek. Klempár refers in the letter to the minister's recent appearance on Czech Television, where he responded to a critical report by Amnesty International in part as follows: We are doing our best today just to get children from excluded localities into the schools. Many representatives of the schools go to their homes to drag them out of bed. They are doing their best to teach them the basics of hygiene, to speak Czech correctly, and also to teach them that it's just not normal for someone to stay in bed until noon and then smoke a pack of cigarettes - in other words, that people also go to work."  full story

Changes at Czech university revive longstanding dispute about the existence of the Romani ethnicity

7.5.2015 9:03 The Faculty of Arts of one of Europe's oldest universities, Charles University in Prague, is undergoing significant changes thanks to the leadership of its current Dean. Some members of the academic community are strongly objecting to some of those changes; a petition has been put together and ethnology students are on strike.  full story

Office of the Czech Gov't announces search for new director of Agency for Social Inclusion

7.5.2015 8:15 The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic has announced the terms for applying to its selection procedure for the position of director of the Agency for Social Inclusion. The new director will start work in June.  full story

Czech ethnology students begin strike in defense of fired teachers

7.5.2015 7:42 Yesterday morning began a two-day occupational strike by ethnology students at Charles University in Prague. The students want the director of the Institute of Ethnology, Marek Jakoubek, to be removed and hope their protest action will draw attention to ongoing changes with which they disagree.  full story

Outgoing director of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion says Human Rights Minister doesn't understand the Agency's work

7.5.2015 6:34 In an interview for news server Romea.cz on 5 May, outgoing director Martin Šimáček has responded to the explanation given by Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier to the press about the situation in the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Šimáček said he believes the minister's press conference shows that he completely lacks information about the work of the Agency and that his subordinates are reporting erroneous, incorrect information about it to him.
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Czech Republic: Dean at Charles University standing by controversial ethnologist

6.5.2015 19:18 In February 2014, Docent Mirjam Friedová became the first female Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. Friedová, who was originally the director of the Linguistics Department, came into the leadership position as Dean with a new concept of how to direct the faculty - how to make up for the university's lack of money, how to solve staffing cuts, and how to focus more on research activity.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Agency staff will either meet their obligations or leave

6.5.2015 12:21 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier convened an extraordinary press conference yesterday to respond to the "further escalation of the situation" around the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the "media campaign by its employees". The staff of the Agency have announced they are considering going on strike.  full story

Charles University ethnology students occupy building and strike, demand director be removed

6.5.2015 8:42 Students of ethnology at Charles University in Prague are beginning a two-day occupation and strike on Wednesday, 6 May. Their protest is an expression of their disagreement with the director of the Institute of Ethnology, Marek Jakoubek, whose removal they seek.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion threatens strike

5.5.2015 17:35 The staff of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is concerned, now that its director Martin Šimáček has been removed, that the Agency will become politicized and will be incapable of fulfilling its obligations. They say they consider their negotiations to date with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, under whose remit the Agency falls, to have been unsatisfactory.  full story

Analysis: 1 May in Brno, Czech Republic

5.5.2015 8:34 Every other year, the city of Brno becomes a place where right-wing radicals from all over the Czech Republic gather for a 1 May demonstration. In previous years, every such assembly, irrespective of its size, has produced a completely different outcome.  full story

Film about Czechoslovak experiment with Romani children wins best documentary from Olomouc Film Academy

3.5.2015 2:31 A documentary film by Czech Television, "Suppressed Letters" (Zatajené dopisy) about an experimental school for Romani children in 1950s Czechoslovakia, has won the prize for best Czech popular science documentary from the Academia Film Olomouc. At the beginning of the experiment, children attended the boarding school voluntarily, but later attended after being forcibly taken away from their families on the presumption that their ties with their parents would be broken.  full story

Czech Police acted unlawfully when intervening against activists holding Czech-Romani flag

2.5.2015 21:58 The Czech Police have apologized to Romani activist Ivana Čonková for detaining her, together with evangelical priest Mikuláš Vymětal, for holding a Czech-Romani flag together at a counter-protest in January against an anti-Islamic demonstration. Čonková's complaint in the matter has been evaluated as partially justified.  full story

Czech lower house concludes first negotiations about ombud's new powers

Prague, 2.5.2015 2:35 The Czech lower house has taken one month to complete its first reading of a Government amendment to expand the powers of the office of the Public Defender of Rights (the ombud). The delays were due to a demand from the right-wing opposition that the current Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, be present during the negotiations.  full story

Czech Republic: Anarchists in Prague protest police raid and war

1.5.2015 23:25 More than 200 anarchists marched through Prague on 1 May from the Shooter's Island (Střelecký ostrov) in the Vltava River to náměstí Míru (Square of Peace). The event was a protest against a nationwide police raid against extremists this week and against war.  full story

Czech Police use tear gas, arrest 57, mostly counter-protesters of neo-Nazi march in Brno

1.5.2015 19:27 The Czech News Agency reports that approximately 1 500 people gathered in Brno today to block a march by supporters of the Workers' Youth and Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) called "Europe, Rise Up" (Evropo povstaň). Conveners of the blockade say the Workers' Youth is evidently linked to neo-Nazi circles.  full story

Czech Police charge six after nationwide raid against extremists, three now in custody

30.4.2015 23:45 A court has remanded into custody three of the six people charged by police in connection with their nationwide raid against extremism on Tuesday. Štěpánka Zenklová, the spokesperson for the State Prosecutor's office in Prague, which is supervising the maneuvers, told the Czech News Agency that she will not be able to provide details about the legal qualification of the crimes involved until the investigation is completed.  full story

Czech Republic: Hundreds plan to block neo-Nazi march on 1 May in Brno

28.4.2015 16:52 Right-wing extremists from the Workers' Youth (Dělnická mládež - DM) group, which is linked to the Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) are planning to go to Brno for 1 May. The event, called "Europe, Rise Up" (Evropo povstaň) has been announced to the Brno-střed municipal department.  full story

Poll finds most Czechs disagree with all foreigners having the right to seek citizenship

28.4.2015 0:06 The openness of Czech people toward foreigners has reached an historic low. Almost three-quarters (73 %) of respondents disagree that every person living in the Czech Republic should have the right to apply for citizenship; last year only 67 % disagreed.  full story